Ubisoft Store - Free 2 day shipping

Just got Assassin's Creed. Came with an online coupon for free 2 day shipping if you order from the online store. Just go to the Ubisoft Store and enter coupon code: 2DAYFREE at checkout. Coupon is good until 5/31/2008. Enjoy!

Blue Dragon - Marked Down to 32$ at Circuit City

Looks like Circuit City marked Blue Dragon down to 32 dollars for a post-holiday sale. Jack.. I am aiming this post at you, since I know you were looking to buy it.. Now your broke ass can afford it.. With it on sale at this price I may pick it up myself!

Here is a link to the game at Circuit City.

ROCK BAND - REVIEW - PS3 - 9.5/10

A few months ago Chris invited me over to play a little game called Guitar Hero 2, before playing it I didn't really think that it was the kind of game I'd be into - ten minutes later the only thought in my head was to rush out and buy my own copy.But it never happened I kept putting off getting the game because there was this thing called Rock Band coming out in November. The wait was long, life seemed pointless. What the fuck was I supposed to do until this game came out? Since it came out, I haven't once thought about that other game....What the hell was it called again? It's simple, when you are not playing Rock Band, you are thinking about playing it. By the way, Chris, can we please change the name of the site to "Rock Band Over Girls"?

There is so much in the game, that if I were to break it down and give it the proper review that it deserves , it would end up being about six pages long - so let me just touch on the most important aspects.

Drums - The real star of Rock Band is the drum kit it ships with. I am not a drummer, before I played this game, to see me play the drums, let's just say I wouldn't look out of place on the short bus with the rest of the retarded children. Now I feel like the drummer from Def Leopard, I still suck, but people applaud me because I do alright with my handicap and they feel sorry for me. I suppose the only gripe I have, is that the bass pedal sometimes doesn't register when I'm pretty fucking sure that I hit it at the right time.

Guitar - The big argument on the internets, is that the Guitar Hero cheap piece of plastic is way better than the Rock Band cheap piece of plastic. Yes, the strum bar on the RB guitar is shitty, but the fret board is way more comfy. Also, I see many people complaining that RB guitar is too easy compared to GH difficulty - agreed, but I suck anyway, so it's a welcome "problem" for me.

Microphone - It's cool to be just like the assholes you see singing karaoke, but I do wish there was an option to remove the vocals so you can be that asshole. Also, I wish the words scrolling across the screen were a bit bigger.

Bass - Hey, bass player. Look at the bass player. Look at that smile, there's sadness in that smile. Look at that chord structure, there's sadness in that chord structure. Look at him flail like the wailin' wall with nothin' but stubby fingers and a dumb look on his face. He don't know it but he's balding...spiritually. But everybody hates the bass player. No one invites the bass player to the party after the show.

Bruce: Hey, what are you guys doin' after the show? Oh, nothin'? Okay.

Songs - Fan-Fucking-Tastic!!! I'm not going to list them all, but most of them are really good, and the ones that aren't that good are still fun to play. But....there is not enough Box O' Wine in the world to wash away the pain that comes with playing the 45 minute Train Kept A-Rollin'

Multi Vs. Single player - Believe it or not, single player is better because your H-mo friends can't come and take the drums away from you. All joking aside, it should come as no surprise that multiplayer is the better way to go, acting like an asshole with your friends is always more fun than solo-asshole. Don't shit on single player though, it's incredibly satisfying to practice getting better at whatever instrument you fancy.

DOWNLOADS - Harmonix, Keep em coming, I can't be the only jerkoff that will buy every single song that is released. Do me a favor though, there is a world of great songs in the underground music scene that I'm sure would cost next to nothing to secure the rights to.

Songs I would LOVE to see in Rock Band

Alkaline Trio - Private Eye, This Could Be Love, Cringe.

Jimmy Eat World - Pain, Sweetness (demo version please), The Authority Song (also demo version)

Green Day - She, When I Come Around, Holiday.

Descendents - Hope, Cameage, Clean Sheets.

Nofx - Liza and Louise, Punk Rock Elite, Moron Brothers.

Jawbreaker - Accident Prone, I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both, Boxcar.

J Church - Foreign Films, No Surprise, Open Road.

Yes, I realize that the only songs that have a chance are the Green Day songs, BLOW ME!

PGR3 - REVIEW - Genre: Electronica

Electronica

Genre Rating: 3

Total Tracks in Genre: 12
Length: approx. 58 mins.

The electronica genre is an unusual one. Some of the tracks in this genre, simply don't fit my idea of this genre. It has both excellent tracks, and tracks that are total crap. The consistancy is just not there. Honestly some of the tracks in this genre just ruin the whole thing, which is unfortunate, since this genre also has some of the best tracks in the game.

Guide to rating: 1 = Avoid at all costs / 5 = Can't go wrong with this one.

Track 1
Artist: Alpine Stars
Track: Carbon Kid
Label: Astralwerks/Riverman
Length: 6.25
Rating: 1

This track fits the "Electronica" genre in the loosest sense of the word. More like rock with keyboards.. The track starts off pretty good.. until the vocals come in. The vocals are sooooo annoying its not even funny. The lyrics are ass. They honestly ruin the whole song. I had to listen to this track no less than 5 times, doing this review. I was ready to blow my brains out after the first. No joke. At 6.25, this track is exactly 6 minutes too long. DO NOT listen to this track unless you are compiling a soundtrack for suicide.

Track 2
Artist: Dirty Vegas
Track: A Million Ways
Label: Capitol Records
Length: 5.15
Rating: 2

Another track that I would be hard pressed to classify as "Electronica". This track makes me feel gay listening to it. The vocals are gay.. The music is gay.. But, if you want to spend your race feeling like you are racing to a Beverly Hills public restroom, to meet up with George Michael.. More power to you.

Track 3
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Track: Tribulations
Label: Capitol Records
Length: 5.16
Rating: 4

FINALLY a half-way decent track in this genre. The music sets the stage well, and the vocals work fine. Best for Tokyo races in my opinion.

Track 4
Artist: Radio 4
Track: Party Crashers
Label: Astralwerks
Length: 5.00
Rating: 3

There is nothing special about this track. The music is ok.. The vocals are ok.. Not a bad track.. But not a great one either. Nothing special here.

Track 5
Artist: Audio Bullys
Track: Real Life
Label: Astralwerks
Length: 3.30
Rating: 3

Music isn't bad, vocals get annoying. It's one salvation is that the track is fairly short. But there are better tracks to listen to.

Track 6
Artist: Phontaine
Track: One More Day
Label: Brighton Sound/Position Music
Length: 2.40
Rating: 5

This track rocks. I like this track so much, I listened to a bunch of other tracks by the same artist on their website. I would buy this. It works really well for any short race, or challenge. At 2.40, you will be wishing this track was longer.

Track 7
Artist: New Order
Track: Krafty
Label: London Records 90 Ltd.
Length: 4.30
Rating: 2

This is a dissapointing one. I love old New Order. ("Blue Monday" is one of the best songs ever) This is not old New Order. This is new New Order. The vocals suck, the music is bland. Avoid.

Track 8
Artist: Crush
Track: Consiousness
Label: Position Music
Length: 3.41
Rating: 4

This song is fast and furious. Perfect for just about any racing situation.

Track 9
Artist: Lunatex
Track: Crawl
Label: Chakrasound
Length: 6.23
Rating: 5

Fits well with most race types, and tracks. Sound is diverse. Can't go wrong with this track.

Track 10
Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Track: The Big Jump
Label: Astralwerks
Length: 4.45
Rating: 4

This track is decent, but not the best track from the Chemical Brothers. I have come to expect more from these guys. The track does work very well though.

Track 11
Artist: The Atlas Plug
Track: The Ace, the Only
Label: Persist Records/Position Music
Length: 4.20
Rating: 4

This track has a pretty heavy sound. Goes on a bit long though, and gets repetitive. Use this one for the shorter races, or challenges.

Track 12
Artist: Robert Miles
Track: Improvisations
Label: S:alt Records Limited
Length: 4.20
Rating: 3

This is a pretty strange song. Lots of bouncing sounds to the right or left. The beat gets lost at times, but somehow it still works. Decent choice for Nurburgring races.

Next Up.. Alternative Rock

<< back to PGR3 Soundtrack Review Index

EA Store - Free Shipping and 20% Off

Got an email from EA today for free standard shipping on any order from the EA Store before 12/27/2007. Also you can get 20% off with the coupon code 08JXN1 up until 12/31/2007. Just type it in during checkout. Pretty sweet deal.

PGR3 - REVIEW - Genre: Dark Electronica

Dark Electronica

Genre Rating: 4

Total Tracks in Genre: 11
Length: approx. 60 mins.

The dark electronica genre is a safe bet for PGR3. In the game, the genre as a whole tends to utilize vocals minimally, and seems to favor instrumentals. Most of the tracks that do utilize vocals in this genre do so effectively. There is good choice in this genre for songs to match a variety of race types. Overall this is one of the better genres you could choose to race to.

Guide to rating: 1 = Avoid at all costs / 5 = Can't go wrong with this one.

Track 1
Artist: Autoaggression
Track: Das Nyquist Theorem
Label: Mindbase/Dependent Records
Length: 5.15
Rating: 2

This track is best for short courses with wide sweeping curves. The beat is steady and simple. I would like to give this track a better rating, but it breaks down at about 3.30 simply into noise. Goes on like that for a good 30 seconds. It actually is quite distracting. Best to use this track on shorter races, where the annoyance factor of the latter part of the track wont come into play.

Track 2
Artist: Aphex Twin
Track: Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix)
Label: Warp Records
Length: 4.15
Rating: 4

The first time I heard this song (or a version thereof) was on the movie "CKY2K". Check out this movie if you have not had a chance, it's hilarious. This song is angry. It will give you road rage. It will have you stuffing your opponents into guardrails, and pushing them out of the way in tight turns. Best for racing against other opponents, unless you are trying to get the "Clean Race" bonus.. Lots of energy makes this track a good choice.

Track 3
Artist: Orbital
Track: Tunnel Vision
Label: ATO Records
Length: 4.25
Rating: 4

This track starts off very slow and mellow and builds up to the end. Simple variation in theme makes it good background music and perfect for long races. This song has Nurburgring written all over it.

Track 4
Artist: Trash Palace
Track: Animal Magic
Label: Discograph
Length: 4.10
Rating: 5

A hard driving compressed bass line, good use of flanging, and excellent variation on theme, make this a perfect track for just about any driving situation. One of the best tracks in the game.

Track 5
Artist: Mindless Faith
Track: Singular
Label: Mindbase/Dependent Records
Length: 6.03
Rating: 3

Starts off slow and brooding. Heavy 4/4 time kick drum comes in quickly. Vocals are present, but mixed low. Lack of variation causes the track to feel stale towards the end. Still a decent choice for longer races.

Track 6
Artist: 30Hz
Track: No Mans Land
Label: Thinking Productions
Length: 7.20
Rating: 5

This track has some sweeps that will test the bass capabilities of your audio hardware. My 400 watt sub, had the neighbors calling about the resulting earthquake, and my wife screaming about the chipped dishes.. Another great choice for just about any driving situation, and at 7.20 the longest track in the genre without ever feeling long.

Track 7
Artist: Micronaut
Track: Perdition
Label: Positron!Records
Length: 3.48
Rating: 4

Overall a solid track. Great for the shorter races. Vocals are barely discernible in the background most of the time.

Track 8
Artist: Stromkern
Track: Stand Up (Extended Mix)
Label: Mindbase/Dependent Records
Length: 5.20
Rating: 5

Prominent catchy rhythmic vocals, make this track a joy to race to. Excellent choice for all types of races/challenges.

Track 9
Artist: Faetal
Track: Phosphor Sky
Label: Wasp Factory
Length: 5.53
Rating: 3

Sections with slow plodding beats and little energy, counterpointed with sections of hard electric guitar riff work make this a tough song to match to a race. Works fairly well with the NYC bridge races, and Nurburgring, but not much else.

Track 10
Artist: mind.in.a.box
Track: Walking
Label: Wasp Factory
Length: 3.50
Rating: 4

An extremely catchy melodic chorus, keeps this song alive. Great general track for racing or completing challenges.

Track 11
Artist: Squarepusher
Track: Menelec
Label: Warp Records
Length: 5.30
Rating: 1

Disjointed rhythms and random noise, make this a tough one to match to just about any situation. Gets annoying super quickly. I guarantee you will be slamming the skip button, just as quickly. Avoid.

Next Up.. Electronica

<< back to PGR3 Soundtrack Review Index

PGR3 - REVIEW - Soundtrack

I'm sure there have already been a million reviews of this game. I'm not planning on going into the overall merits of this game in this review. It's an excellent game. Period. The purpose of this entry is to review Project Gotham Racing 3's soundtrack. I wanted to review the audio tracks, not for their artistic merit in general, but for how well they work in the context of the game.

A game in the racing genre, can be made or broken by the quality of its soundtrack. My favorite racing series of all time, Wipeout, is a perfect example of this. (With the exception of Wipeout Fusion, of which we shall not speak.) The Wipeout series perfectly melded high speed racing, and an outstanding soundtrack. The soundtrack did an excellent job of drawing you into the game experience.

What, if anything, PGR3's soundtrack lack in quality.. It definately makes up in quantity. PGR3 features 101 audio tracks broken down into 9 genres consisting of Alternative Rock, Rock, Electronica, Dark Electronica, Hip Hop, Industrial, Bhangra, Japanese Pop, and Classical.

In a series of 9 posts, I plan to review all 9 genres, and each of the 101 audio tracks. I will update this post with links to each of the 9 posts to follow as I complete them.

• 1. Dark Electronica - Rating: 4/5
• 2. Electronica - Rating: 3/5
• 3. Alternative Rock - Rating: 3/5
• 4. Bhangra - Rating: 4.5/5
• 5. Classical - Rating: 1/5
• 6. Rock - Rating: 2/5

You may ask why do a review of a game thats been out for so long. PGR4 was recently released.. Why not review that one?.. Well PGR3 was recently rerelased for the Platinum Series with a price tag of 20 bucks. Im a huge fan of the Platinum series, because it gives you the opportunity to own some of the greatest games for Xbox360, at a price you can afford.

If you do not own this title, my advice to you.. Go and get it. It's WELL worth the 20 dollar price tag.

Enjoy!

Hello All!

I'm Chris, and I will be collaborating with Jack on this blog. I wanted to take this time to introduce myself.

Jack and I have known each other for a long long time now. We both share a love of videogames. I have been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and have played many many games on many many consoles. I enjoy PC gaming as well, but haven't had as much time to spend on the PC of late. I currently own NES, N64, Dreamcast, Playstation, PS2, and XBOX 360 consoles.

I have 2 ugly kids aged 16mo and 4years. Just for the record.. my wife is the only girl I have ever put over a game.

My 4 year old is just starting to get into gaming which is really cool. He currently loves playing Viva Pinata, and Lego Star Wars 2. He is kind of annoying to play LSW2 with, since he seems to like to run the opposite direction im going in all the time, but I'm not giving up hope yet.

Lately, I have been really into PGR3, the Orange Box, Rock Band, and am currently awaiting patiently Assassins Creed (my Christmas gift).

My function here will be to help Jack maintain the blog, and collaborate on posts with him. I hope you enjoy my contribution to this blog. I am very excited to be a part of it.

Calling All Cars - REVIEW - PS3

For the first 10 minutes I played the game with a grimace on my face, I must have yelled "FUCK OFF" to the TV 8 times. While this might seem that the game both sucks, and that I am quite insane, it does not. The game is exactly what the PS3 needs - an affordable party game that puts almost every Wii game to shame...in both graphics and playability.

You start off by picking from 6 or so vehicles, jump in a level and play. A jailbreak occurs, a crook tunnels out of the ground and you hunt him down. Hit the crook with your car and he is thrust into the air, quickly catch the criminal and haul ass to the jail. There are 3 "goals" at the jail, 1 point, 2 point, and 3 point holes to drop the criminal off and collect your points. The game has been compared to NBA Jam, I've never played it, so I'll say it plays like capture the flag.

Let's stop this now, just go buy it. It's 10 bucks. The only thing I can say bad about the game is that it's a bit too short, I'm guessing more levels will be available for download in the future, I just hope they'll be cheap enough to justify the purchase. Let me put it this way, 5 more levels for 10 more dollars. If it gets to the point where I'm paying up to 50 bucks for a full game I'm gonna be pissed.

Keep them coming Sony, 10 dollar games that look better and play better than Wii games is the right way to pull people in...and a controller that actually works doesn't hurt either.

Soul Calibur something or other for Wii...who cares!

Prediction - This game will suck, it will have crappy motion controls that won't work. I'm not really a big fighting game fan, so I may not be the best person to critique one that isn't even out yet, but fighting games need pinpoint accuracy. Personally, I think that fighting games took a huge blow when they went to 3D, it just felt like the collision detection wasn't there as it should be. Now add in the motion controls from the Wii remote, that quite frankly don't work well anyway, and we've got a major shit storm coming...I think I smell it!

Console war predictions...yeah, late.

I know that the predictions for the "winner" usually take place before or during the launch period of consoles, but i didn't start this blog until after they all launched, so blow me.

Wii - People will grow tired of crappy looking games, they will grow even more tired of crappy looking games with awful controls. Wii owners will buy the occasional Nintendo published games and shun third party games - It's the N64/GC all over again folks.

Xbox 360 - People will eat this thing up, but will be buried under a pile of FPS and war games with little else to chose from. After the 4th version of the 360, gamers will unite at Microsoft headquarters and throw their power bricks like...uh, bricks, at Billy Gates. In the long run MS will come out on top, not with system sales, but with game sales.

PS3 - Unless Sony drops the price on this thing, they will come out on the bottom. That one guy from Japan, Yoshi, and I are the only people stupid enough to buy this thing - and even we are getting bored of it. It's not that Sony is really doing anything wrong, they just need good games and a reasonable price point...DUH!

That's it, goodnight.

Lost in Blue 2 - REVIEW - DS

The original Lost in Blue was an amazing launch game when the DS first came out, if you haven't had the pleasure of playing it, hit Ebay, Best Buy, or Gamestop (as a last resort) and pick it up. Think of it as the TV show Lost, without the fat slob Hurley saying "Dude" every 5 seconds. You start off watching a cut scene of your character on a ship, storm comes, you're shipwrecked. Along with a female companion, you try to keep yourselves alive by finding/catching food, building furniture, solving puzzles, and trying to figure out the secrets of this island.

Sounds great, right? Well, while the original was a great balance of doing all these tasks. The sequel took the most annoying part of Lost in Blue, which was scrounging for food, and turns it into the main focus of the game. You spend about 3/4 of the day fishing and collecting coconuts, it's a bore-fest. I wanted to love this game, but when playing a video game becomes more annoying than dragging my ass out of bed and going to work, I can't recommend spending your hard earned money on it.

Maybe when Lost the video game comes out, it'll take everything good about Lost in Blue, and leave out the food hunt.

Just say NO to the Elite!!!

As much as I wanted to cave in and buy the Elite...I just couldn't do it. The Premium 360 will have the new more quiet chips and the HDMI port in the fall, so I convinced myself to hold out for a bit longer. I have Gears of War just sitting there in plastic, guess I'll be returning that to the store soon. Meanwhile, I have a PS3 collecting dust because I'm too cheap to shell out the cash for Motor Storm - and let's be honest, that's the only game worth buying at this point.

I heard some crazy rumor about some of the Premium 360 units actually floating around out there with the HDMI port. Is this true? Please let me know in the comments if it's true, I think I'm just stupid enough to shell out $400 now, then sell it back when the new version comes out.

The greatest games that were never made.

As usual, the news in the video game world is extremely slow, so I thought I'd talk about the greatest properties that were never made into games.

First is Ghost busters, and no, the games that were made already... are not really games at all. I'm kidding of course, the Genesis GB is actually pretty good - the NES GB games smells like dick dipped in dog shit. There is a GB NES game that is also kinda good, it's a birds eye view perspective- a little bit Zelda NES/Rambo Genesis.

About 4 or 5 months ago, there was a teaser trailer for a GB game that looked like Gears of War, I'm guessing that it was for the 360. I must say that I'm very disappointed in the media for not getting their hands dirty on this one, this was the biggest news to happen in years. It's the dream of any 30-something to have a video game based on the show/movie we grew up with (I'm still waiting on Silver Spoons: Little Ricky Schroeder's Revenge). I'd like to take it to the next level now, along with this realistic GB, I want a game based on The Real Ghost Busters. Can you even begin to imagine what it would be like to battle with Sandman, The Boogie Man, the ghost versions of the GB crew? It would no doubt be THE SHIT!

I want capcom to bring back Duck Tales (2D please). Gummi Bears, think about this one, a 3D Wind Waker style visuals, Action/Adventure/Rpg. When you get into a battle you can fight like Mario (stomping on an ogre) , for magic you could drink Gummi Berry Juice and bounce all around the screen causing "massive damage"to all foes in the battle.

You know what? I'm gonna stop here, I think I can drag this out to be a weekly thing where I pick one old or new TV show, and explain how to make it into a great game. Sounds good, no?

Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo

If you are one of the many angry/bored PS3 owners waiting for the next big thing, the wait is over. Sometime tonight the demo for NGS will be available for download, most likely for free. If you've never had the pleasure of playing the other iterations on the Xbox, you really need to at least try out this demo. Having played Ninja Gaiden Black, I can tell you, that this is hands down the best Action/Adventure game on the system. I only got through the first 4 levels (It's hard as all hell), but from that short amount of play, I'd say that it's right up there with God of War (which I've only plowed through the first 3 levels).

Get yourself a Cup O' Joe, some Stacker pills, or even an 8-ball of coke (if that's your thing) and refresh away until it shows up sometime later tonight.